Solar energy looking bright in Savannah

Brad Sherman, of Coastal Solar Power Co., talks about the panels he installed on a home in Guyton.

Brad Sherman, of Coastal Solar Power Co., installed solar panels on the roof of this Guyton home.

Local solar advocate Jack Star points to several recent developments that have him feeling optimistic about solar energy in the Savannah area:

• Home products giant Ikea announced in December that its Savannah distribution center is among 10 of its U.S. facilities slated to receive a solar makeover in 2012. The company expects to install enough solar panels locally to power the equivalent of 175 homes.

• Sustainable Fellwood on West Bay Street is now home to what may be the largest solar installation on affordable housing in Georgia, an up and running 85kW system on the development’s senior citizen center.

• Most importantly, solar’s price is falling.

Take Billy Reeves’ house in Guyton as an example. Reeves’ handsome stucco home looks perfectly ordinary from the front. But the back roof is topped with enough solar panels to provide a quarter of its power on the hottest summer day.

Reeves said his summer energy bill was “getting out of hand.” A chemist, Reeves is looking at retiring soon and was worried about destroying a fixed monthly budget with a $500 electric bill. And it doesn’t hurt that solar provides a way to be less dependent on foreign oil.

“Since the sun is free, why not take advantage of its energy?” he said.

After Reeves cashes in on tax credits, the 4 kW system could cost him less than $10,000. The equipment is half the cost it was just two years ago, said Brad Sherman, whose Coastal Power Company recently completed the installation.

Reeves is typical of solar customers, Sherman said. They’re not necessarily into green for the sake of the environment. More often the common green thread is the color of money.

“I think the cause of the growth is people seeing more practical reasons,” Sherman said. “It’s a good business decision to go solar now.”

Sherman expects his customers to make their capital investment back in five or six years. After that, the solar panels, which are engineered to keep producing at least 80 percent of their initial capacity for 25 years, are putting money in the customer’s pocket.

Star was excited recently when solar reached “grid parity” for consumers — the cost per kilowatt for systems of 8 kW and above are equivalent to that charged by the Georgia Power.

“If you take a look at someone installing a solar system now, their option is either don’t install and pay the utility 11 cents per kilowatt hour or install solar now and pay about the same.

“It’s either pay the utility or pay yourself. It’s an insurance policy against an increase in utility cost, and you have an asset you’ve added to your house. Now the system increases your home’s value,”

Star, for all his solar passion, doesn’t have a financial interest in the technology. That’s something he’s steadfastly avoided, he said. The 78-year-old journalist by profession bills himself as “an advocate for difficult causes.”

Much to his chagrin, he doesn’t have solar panels on his Gordonston home; it’s too shady with 60-foot pines and magnolias covering his lot.

“It drives me crazy,” he said. “I’d like people to drive by the house and see solar panels. I’m thinking of putting just one up there. I could probably use one to power an attic fan.”

Both Star and Sherman cite the issue of control — of energy, of costs and even of government policy — as a driving one with solar.

“There are so few things in life you have control over,” Star said. “This is one.”

For Sherman, it’s about how the government spends money. He figures the tax credits available for solar (currently up to 30 percent of capital costs back from the federal government and up to 35 percent from the state) allows him to exercise control over his tax dollars.

“I want to spend that money getting away from fossil fuels,” he said.

Nationally, solar capacity doubles every year, Star said. Locally, business is brisk for installers like Sherman, who put in three systems during December, his first month in business for himself, He’s working up estimates for at least four more interested homeowners, including two at The Landings. And he could be back at Reeves home soon.

“We want to add more panels to the lower roof in the near future to be able to generate a little more energy with the possibility to go off the electric grid completely in the future,” Reeves said.